Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 23 April 2021
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
Cyber Attacks On The Rise For Businesses, Pushing Many To The Brink
The proportion of businesses targeted by cyber criminals in the past year increased from 38% to 43%, with over a quarter of those targeted (28%) experiencing five attacks or more. Those attacks are pushing many firms to the brink, with one in six businesses attacked (17%) saying the financial impact materially threatened the company’s future. On a more positive note, the report shows firms are responding to the cyber challenge: mean spending per business on cyber security has more than doubled in the last two years.
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2021/04/19/610514.htm
MI5 Warns Of Spies Using Linkedin To Trick Staff Into Spilling Secrets
At least 10,000 UK nationals have been approached by fake profiles linked to hostile states, on the professional social network LinkedIn, over the past five years, according to MI5. It warned users who had accepted such connection requests might have then been lured into sharing secrets. A campaign has been launched to educate government workers about the threat. The 10,000-plus figure includes staff in virtually every government departments as well as key industries, who might be offered speaking or business and travel opportunities that could lead to attempts to recruit them to provide confidential information.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56812746
SonicWall Warns Customers To Patch 3 Zero-Days Exploited In The Wild
Security hardware manufacturer SonicWall is urging customers to patch a set of three zero-day vulnerabilities affecting both its on-premises and hosted Email Security products. "In at least one known case, these vulnerabilities have been observed to be exploited 'in the wild,'" SonicWall said in a security advisory published earlier today. The company said it is "imperative" that organisations using its Email Security hardware appliances, virtual appliances, or software installations on Microsoft Windows Server machines immediately upgrade to a patched version.
The FBI Removed Hacker Backdoors From Vulnerable Microsoft Exchange Servers. Not Everyone Likes The Idea
The FBI had worked to remove malicious web shells from hundreds of computers in the United States that were running vulnerable versions of Microsoft Exchange Server. While the move will have helped keep many organisations secure, it has also raised questions about the direction of cyber security. Earlier this year, four zero-day vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server, which were being actively exploited by a nation-state-backed hacking operation, were uncovered. Microsoft released a critical security update to protect Exchange Server customers from cyber attacks exploiting the vulnerabilities in March, but a significant number of organisations have yet to apply the security patch.
Pulse Secure VPN Zero-Day Used To Hack Defense Firms, Govt Organisations
A zero-day authentication bypass vulnerability in the Pulse Connect Secure (PCS) SSL VPN appliance actively exploited in attacks against worldwide organisations and focused on US Defence Industrial base networks. As a workaround, the vulnerability can be mitigated on some gateways by disabling Windows File Share Browser and Pulse Secure Collaboration features using instructions available in the security advisory published earlier today.
SolarWinds Hack Could Cost Cyber Insurance Firms $90 Million
Cyber insurance vendors are expected to spend $90 million on incident response and forensic services for clients who were compromised by the SolarWinds hackers. “Although the SolarWinds attack is a cyber catastrophe from a national security perspective, insurers may have narrowly avoided a catastrophic financial incident to their businesses,” The Russian hackers behind the SolarWinds attack appear to have avoided large scale exploitation of victims, instead opting to maintain access and collect sensitive data. But if the SolarWinds hackers had been focused on interrupting business and destroying networks, the campaign could have been catastrophic for insurers.
https://www.crn.com/news/security/solarwinds-hack-could-cost-cyber-insurance-firms-90-million
Mount Locker Ransomware Aggressively Changes Up Tactics
The Mount Locker ransomware has shaken things up in recent campaigns with more sophisticated scripting and anti-prevention features, according to researchers. And, the change in tactics appears to coincide with a rebranding for the malware into “AstroLocker.” According to researchers, Mount Locker has been a swiftly moving threat. Having just hit the ransomware-as-a-service scene in the second half of 2020, the group released a major update in November that broadened its targeting capabilities (including searching for file extensions utilized by TurboTax tax-return software to encrypt). It also added improved detection evasion. Attacks have continued to escalate, and now, another major update signals “an aggressive shift in Mount Locker’s tactics,”.
https://threatpost.com/mount-locker-ransomware-changes-tactics/165559/
QR Codes Offer Easy Cyber Attack Avenues as Usage Spikes
The use of mobile quick-response (QR) codes in daily life, for both work and personal use, continues to rise – and yet, most people are not aware that these handy mobile shortcuts can open them up to savvy cyber attacks. A survey of 4,157 consumers across China, France, Germany, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. It found that 57 percent of respondents have increased their QR code usage since mid-March 2020, mainly because of the need for touchless transactions in the wake of COVID-19. In all, three-quarters of respondents (77 percent) said they have scanned a QR code before, with 43 percent having scanned a QR code in the past week.
https://threatpost.com/qr-codes-cyberattack-usage-spikes/165526/
Google Alerts Continues To Be A Hotbed Of Scams And Malware
Google Alerts continues to be a hotbed of scams and malware that threat actors are increasingly abusing to promote malicious websites. While Google Alerts has been abused for a long time, a significant increase in activity over the past couple of weeks. People use Google Alerts to monitor for various terms related to cyber attacks, security incidents, malware, etc. In one Google Alert, almost every new article shared with people today by the service led to a scam or malicious website.
Threats
Ransomware
Campus Still Closed as Portsmouth University Reels from Suspected Ransomware
Ransomware Gang Tries To Extort Apple Hours Ahead Of Spring Loaded Event
Discord Nitro gift codes now demanded as ransomware payments
Phishing
Malware
IOT
Vulnerabilities
Google Issues Chrome Update Patching Seven Security Vulnerabilities
Zero-Day Vulnerabilities In Sonicwall Email Security Are Being Actively Exploited
Cisco Router Flaws Left Small Business Networks Open To Abuse
Firefox 88 Patches Bugs And Kills Off A Sneaky Javascript Tracking Trick
Data Breaches
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cryptocurrency
Supply Chain
Nation State Actors
Denial of Service
Other News
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